All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), has launched a report titled “Online Gaming is a Life Skill.” As per the report, the number of online gamers is expected to reach 510 million by fiscal year 2022 and it grew at a CAGR of 21per cent during the lockdown, with a steadily increasing customer base, as of  year 2020, 365 million online gamers are their in India.

The report revealed that 76per cent of gamers believed that by regularly assessing the best way to win a game, they could develop strong analytical skills. More than half (57per cent) felt that an individual could hone practical life skills with online games the same way they would through a whole day at the workplace — 57per cent men and 56 per cent women agreed with this sentiment.

The report also reveals the essential life skills that online gamers believes are key to online gaming are as follows. Reflexes (65per cent), and strategy and logic (68per cent) were considered the top two skills, followed closely by determination (53per cent) and understanding risk/return (52per cent); 46per cent stated that memory was crucial.

Other findings are as follows:

• More than three quarters of the respondents (76per cent) admit that online gamers develop strong analytical abilities in regularly trying to assess the best way to win at a game
• The proportion of Gen Z (43per cent) and millennials (41per cent ) who believe that friendships/relationships made online between gamers can be as meaningful as real friendships.
• While 40per cent of men believe that more than half of online gaming skills are useful to real life experiences the number drops to 34per cent for women
• Nearly a quarter of respondents (24per cent) consider online games a way to earn money
• More than two-thirds of men (67per cent) felt that cognitive skills such as strategy, logic, understanding of risk and returns, and determination were prerequisites for online gamers (compared to 49per cent of women).

Commenting on the findings, All India Gaming Federation CEO Roland Landers said, “Varied skills like critical thinking, creative thinking, decision making and problem-solving are essential for one’s growth in life. Through this research, we sought to understand whether consumers genuinely realise the value of mobile gaming. This study has helped us conclude that gaming is a way to collaborate, engage, and it is becoming a sector where people want to build their careers.”

 Agarkar Centre of Excellence (ACE) founder, Fatema Agarkar said, “As this form of edutainment evolves, gaming becomes a source of exercise for memory, analytical ability, concentration and other complex cognitive skills. In fact, gaming is used by many in the education field when planning lessons as their break-away sessions in the blended learning format, including assessments. As it continues to gain prominence, fine-tuning cognitive and analytical skills to sharper response time, and heightened spatial ability, it has been noticed that gamers get better prepared to handle problem-solving as they make those split-second decisions.”